Some popular Mantras
Buddhist: Om
Hindu: Aum/Om
Meaning: Everything, connection, calling to witness
Buddhist/Hindu: Om Shanti
Meaning: Everything to peace, everything moves to peace
Buddhist: Om Mani Padme Hum (hung)
Meaning: All praise to the jewel at the heart of the lotus
Buddhist: Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō
Meaning: Homage to the Lotus Sutra
Buddhist: Om tare tuttare ture svaha
Meaning: Green Tara invocation […]
Beka Card concludes her diary from retreat in India…
Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
Soft support. Deep Friendship
Sarnath, near the holy city of Varanasi, is the place where Buddha gave his first teachings in the famous deer park. For many, many years it has been a place of pilgrimmage for Buddhists and there […]
When we follow teachers’ instructions, or recall a focus point from a book, we need to add some limitation, some framework or context, in which the instructions can be followed in a way which is conducive to yoga’s principle of gathering the senses in (Pratyahara).
When one is not blown around by worldly winds, and […]
“Train your senses to be obedient. Regulate your activities to lead you to the goal. Hold the reins of your mind as you hold the reins of restive horses’’
The wheel and the web: Discourses based on verses selected from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Patanjali says: ‘stira sukham asanam’; alertness that is comfortable and light is to be practised during posture.
He continues: ‘prayatna saithilya anata samapattibhyam’; the conclusion (the return to its essential form) of yoga is found when exertion has a relaxed, spacious quality.
The yogi’s mind then moves into an unbounded limitless relationship (with life and practice).
Concluding, he […]
The Buddha reminds us of the right approach in his famous metaphor of the raft from the Majjhima Nikaya.
In it, he describes a situation, where a man standing on the near shore, which is dangerous, needs to get to the far shore, which is safe.
There are no bridges or ferries so he builds a […]
An international meditation group called ‘Open Dharma’ are hoping to open a centre in northern Spain this summer. There will be a one-day yatra or pilgrimage: silent sponsored walk on Sunday 1 July around the Lewes area to fundraise for the Open Centre. Also, one-to-one yoga tuition on a donation basis.
Their means […]
Yoga is not a one hit wonder and so there is no shortcut to its goal of integration on every level. There are things that can be done, that can be immediately helpful, both in restoring some of our overspent energy and in terms of regaining a sense of centre.
Yoga uses a great many […]
There are scores of different ways to meditate. Meditation is a way of placing one’s mind in something. It can be an internal mantra, a visualisation or simply an opening up to one’s self in a spacious and inclusive way.
The Buddhist meditation the Metta Bhavana is a practice that can include all three and […]
An adaptation from the writings of the seventh Dalai Lama, who passed on in 1757.
This short passage focuses on the essential ingredient in any relationship that is generosity. I’ve got a friend who once said to me ‘for a relationship to work, you need to give more than your fair share’.
Giving only our […]
July is the month when Dharma day is celebrated by Buddhists around the world, a day which marks the first teaching to the Buddha’s original five disciples, which is known as ‘The First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma (Dharmachakra).’ Dharma day is now seen as a chance to express gratitude that the Buddha, […]
Sabbe sattaa sukhi hontu is a Pali phrase meaning ‘May all beings be well (or happy)’. It’s not, properly speaking, a mantra. It’s a chant that is used in exactly the same way as a mantra. Unlike most mantras, it has a definite grammatical meaning.
Sabbe = all
Sattaa = beings
Sukhi = happy, well
Hontu = may they […]
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